Why the “kameena” sting on Arvind Kejriwal could be a scripted one

Yes, it sounds strange to believe that someone would willingly take part in a “sting operation” where one is heard abusing colleagues, but I believe that Arvind Kejriwal could have planned it.

Let me explain why.

Before this latest “kameena” sting operation became the talking point, the talking points were the earlier sting operations and the open letters by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan.

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You can’t deny that the earlier sting operations, especially the one released by former MLA Rajesh Garg, had dented the clean and transparent image of Arvind Kejriwal.

Kejriwal came up as a person who was actively trying to form a government in association with Congress while saying the opposite to the aam aadmi. Not only that, he was actively trying to break away 6 MLAs of Congress while claiming on Twitter that BJP was trying to break away and buy those 6 MLAs.

This doublespeak of Kejriwal led to emotional protest by senior leader Anjali Damania, who announced that she had quit and demanded that there should be an inquiry within 48 hours so that her faith is not broken. There has been no inquiry till date.

In a nutshell, Kejriwal was accused of compromising on ethics (corroborated by Rajesh Garg’s sting) and running the party dictatorially (alleged by Yadav and Bhushan).

Kejriwal did not clarify on these issues after returning from his naturopathy treatment in Bangalore. Strangely neither Damania nor the media bothered to seek clarifications from Kejriwal, but it was clear that he needed an image makeover to show that he was the same ‘chhota aadmi with good intentions’ before these sting operations and open letters exposed his other side.

And this “kameena” sting helps in that image makeover.

Consider these points:

In the “kameena” sting, we hear Umesh Singh, who “secretly” recorded this conversation, saying stuff like “Sir aap baahar rahenge toh kaise hoga” and “aap apne ko involve kijiye please” (please get involved in this). This sounds scripted to give clean chit to Kejriwal that he was not involved in this fight, and thus he can’t be accused of being dictatorial and creating this mess.

Kejriwal further uses this opportunity to say that he didn’t come into politics for all this ladai-jhagda. Since the sting is supposed to be a “private talk” one is conditioned to believe that Kejriwal is saying the truth, and it gives an impression that it was Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were the troublemakers, not Kejriwal.

At another instance, Kejriwal says, “humme chhamta kam ho sakti hai, magar hum dil ke kaale nahi hain” (we might be lacking capacity, but we are pure at heart). Since this is supposed to be a private talk that was “secretly” recorded, his image comes up as ‘chhota aadmi with good intentions’ – totally opposite of what it came out in the Rajesh Garg’s sting. Just what was badly needed by Kejriwal.

On another occasion, Umesh Singh says, “main ye acche se jaanta hoon ki chunav se pehle tak aap kaise inhe manage karte rahe ho” (I very well know how you have been managing Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan earlier). This is to hint that within the party everyone knew that Yadav and Bhushan were undisciplined and needed to be “managed”.

Essentially, this sting operation gives clean chit to Kejriwal on every aspect that he desperately needed clean chits on. I find it hard to believe that it was not “scripted”.

You may ask that if it was a scripted and an attempt at image makeover, why would Kejriwal use abusive words to malign his own image?

Here is why I feel that these abusive words were also part of the script:

1. Abusive words used in the sting like Saala and Kameena are very commonly used by people in daily language, many people don’t even consider it as abuse. So when media or opponents attack Kejriwal for using “abusive” words, people would feel that Kejriwal is being unfairly targeted. It generates sympathy, which has always worked for Kejriwal.

2. The abusive words added the much needed masala, else the sting operation would not have attracted the media and public attention.

3. It also made it look convincing that it was a “genuine” sting operation, and that Kejriwal was speaking from his heart as an aam aadmi.

4. Abuses further helped Kejriwal to show that he was very hurt and frustrated with what Yogendra Yadav and team were doing. So it gave him clean chit and painted Yogendra and Bhushan as the aggressors.

Apart from these issues, one wonders why no disciplinary action has been taken against Umesh Singh, while Rajesh Garg was suspended from the primary membership of the party for his sting.

I could be wrong, and right now I don’t have a proof, but I have explained why I believe that the “kameena” sting operation is a well thought of and smartly scripted attempt to undo all the damage that earlier sting operation had done.

And it could work. People would now focus only on this sting and forget the earlier one and the issues that Yogendra Yadav raised.

Maybe next in line is a “kraantikaari” interview that safely sidesteps all the earlier stings and helps Kejriwal get the final clean chit.

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